To a special person.

We all have special people in our life, those who are really close to our heart. This post is for one of them at a very special time of her life. 

It is for a little girl who from being an absolute tomboy

is becoming a stunning young lady!

She is my younger sister, Maria, and every day she fills me with endless admiration. She is very beautiful smart, does amazingly in school and is super talented in sports. On top of that she is the sweetest, most caring, most attentive and sensitive girl you may ever met. 

Bear with me, guys, I know the start is as sickly as  a spoonful of treacle, but the thing is...that she's leaving for Brisbane, Australia on Sunday. Which is kind of the other end of the world from Newcastle. 

Which is kind of scary because she's 17, a very mature one (almost ready to fall off the tree in truth) but nevertheless 17. She's amazing because at such a young age she's got the guts to leave everyone (family, home, boyfriend, school, friends) to follow her dream of studying in Australia. 

During our childhood we got along well, building huts (or sort of), which was my kind of thing, and playing football in the garden, more for her fun than mine. At the time  was a bookworm and I had not discovered running yet, so really a good book was my kind of an ideal afternoon. Nevertheless those endless football matches are still my most treasured childhood memories.
As we grew older, we became very different, like night and day, spring and autumn. We would fight endlessly over minutiae, but deep down I knew I would be there for her any time and that I could rely on her. Thinking back to the darkest moments of my adolescence, she was always there, in spite of being 3 years younger.
Today, I hope she felt my love and support during her difficulties as much as I felt hers. We still are very different from each other but this is our strength. 

As said before, she is a true talent for sport and can do well in any discipline she tries: football, basketball, rowing, swimming. 
Swimming was her absolute passion: I remember watching the 2004 Olympics when Federica Pellegrini won the silver, amazing the whole world with her youth, when Michael Phelps was defying the then titan Ian Thorpe. We were on holiday in the mountains and as soon as we came back from our long hikes, she would be glued to the TV to watch the races. At the seaside, she spent the whole day in the water until my parents fished her out, her hands all wrinkled.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out. She suffers from lax collateral ligaments which caused repeated dislocation of the knee. She saw more physios and orthopaedics in 3-4 years than I hope to see in my whole life. 
She didn't lose her grit, her smile, her positivity....she started rowing.

I guess she fell in love with it...because she started training everyday, in spite of the weather, the time, the tiredness, the workload she had for school. She trained through knee pain with constance and determination. She became strong, physically and mentally. 
She had always been the athletic one in the family and I have forgotten the last time I won a wrestle with her, because it's been too long. Nowadays, she can break me with a hug if she's not careful and is by no means the strongest and fittest member of our family (sorry Dad, you will have to be content with the silver).

What else? Well she is a very positive character, one who brings the sun with her.

She loves cooking! Her tiramisu is the best in the world, and I hear word from Brisbane that her risotto is first class too!

We all love a good selfie...she is the queen of selfies or silly pictures:)

But she is always very cool:

Even in her pj's at 7am:

I think this guy is the luckiest in the world (and one of the tallest):

because he gets to go out with her:)

I'll stop here before blood glucose gets out of control.

I just wanted to tell you all about my amazing little sister and to say her goodbye from my little stupid blog.

Hug loads of koalas for me:

Have a safe travel and a good road!

I LOVE YOU!!

Ps: I could not forget your song <3 ;)